Boy, 9, Burned After Igniting Fire in Room

A 9-year-old boy using a candle to ignite small pieces of paper in his bedroom started a fire at his family’s Oxnard apartment Wednesday that caused $30,000 in damage, city fire officials said.

The blaze started shortly before 2 p.m. in a second-floor apartment at 111 Isleton Place, Battalion Chief Clarence Slayton said.

The boy, who was home with his grandmother, suffered a first-degree burn on his arm when he tried to put out the fire that had started on his bed, Slayton said. He was treated at the scene.

Neighbor Phillip Marin spotted flames shooting from an upstairs window and used a garden hose to spray water on the fire before authorities arrived. He also evacuated several residents on the lower floor.

“It was jumping to the other apartments and had reached the shingles on the roof,” Marin said. “It just got bigger and bigger.”

More than a dozen people were evacuated from four apartments, Slayton said.

Most residents were allowed to return but residents of the apartment where the fire occurred--four adults and two children--were displaced.

Red Cross representatives were helping the family find accommodations Wednesday night.

Slayton said the boy who started the fire would be counseled by a specialist from the Fire Department.